Material reclaiming and classifying apparatus

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for reducing industrial oversized bulky material and packer truck material which often is a mixture of magnetic and non-magnetic metallic and non-metallic waste material in which the reduction occurs in a shredding mill, the output of which goes to a magnetic classifier where the ferrous magnetic components are removed from the remainder of the waste material that is considered combustible. The non-metallic waste is conveyed to a gravity separator air chute where the properly sized material is floated out by air and the heavier material drops out and is recycled for further reduction. The properly sized material is air conveyed to a cyclone separator to remove it from the air stream for recycling of the air back to the air chute. The apparatus is used for classifying combustible waste material by applying the air flotation principle to sort the material according to size and to place the material of suitable size in a conveying air stream connected with a cyclone separator for removal from the air which when cleaned is recirculated in a continuous cycle.

Unite States Patent [191 Williams [451 Get. 29, 1974 [75] Inventor: Robert M. Williams, Ladue, Mo.

[73] Assignee: Williams Patent Crusher &

Pulverizer C0., lnc., St. Louis, Mo.

[22] Filed: Dec. 20, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 316,768

[52] US. Cl.. 241/80, 241/24 [51] Int. Cl. 1302c 21/00 [58] Field of Search 241/24, 19, 79.1, 80, 82, 241/101 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,554,450 5/1951 Ayers 241/80 X 2,668,667 2/1954 Fern et a1, 241/24 2,692,677 10/1954 Bosqui et al. 241/80 X 3,477,649 11/1969 Dalberg et a1. 241/24 3,524,594 8/1970 Anderson et al. 241/24 X 3,650,396 3/1972 Gillespie et al. 241/24 X 3,660,038 5/1972 Brewer 241/24 X 3,670,968 6/1972 Galeano 241/24 X Primary Examiner-Granville Y. Custer, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Gravely, Lieder & Woodruff [5 7 ABSTRACT Apparatus for reducing industrial oversized bulky material and packer truck material which often is a mixture of magnetic and non-magnetic metallic and nonmetallic waste material in which the reduction occurs in a shredding mill, the output of which goes to a magnetic classifier where the ferrous magnetic components are removed from the remainder of the waste material that is considered combustible. The nonmetallic waste is conveyed to a gravity separator air chute where the properly sized material is floated out by air and the heavier material drops out and is recycled for further reduction. The properly sized material is air conveyed to a cyclone separator to remove it from the air stream for recycling of the air back to the air chute. The apparatus is used for classifying combustible waste material by applying the air flotation principle to sort the material according to size and to place the material of suitable size in a conveying air stream connected with a cyclone separator for removal from the air which when cleaned is recirculated in a continuous cycle.

2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PAIENIEDome m4 Sam M: 4 3.844.491

m wTu MATERIAL RECLAIMING AND CLASSIFYING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE Conservation of waste material having reclaimable values is difficult when combustible components of the material is closely intermingled with components that have a different value or may be reusable after being separated from the combustible components. Several different types of apparatus have been devised for the reclamation of certain usable materials. This is especially an important problem when the reclamation of metals and non-metals is considered. The problem centers around the separation of non-metallic components, and in some apparatus the latter components are initially merely burned out to leave the metallic components. The burning step is especially noxious as it can result in atmospheric pollution.

The present apparatus aims to avoid the burning step by reducing the waste material in a classification apparatus, whereby the magnetic metallic components are separated out by magnetic means, thereby leaving the non-magnetic and the non-metallic material to be further processed in an air flotation step. The flotation step is used to separate or classify the material of proper size from that which requires further reduction by being recycled. The properly sized material is air conveyed to apparatus which removes such material and returns the air for reuse in a continuous flotation and air conveying cycle to control the dust and dirt that might cause worker health hazards.

An object of this invention is directed to the apparatus for classifying waste material by size which comprises components initially subjecting the waste material to a general size reduction and subsequently classi fying the material by directing it into an air stream where smaller components are separated from the larger and heavier components.

Another object of this invention is directed to apparatus for classifying waste materials by means for shredding all of the waste material to obtain a general size reduction for expediting the initial classification and separation of the magnetic metallics from the nonmagnetics and non-metallics, and to means for classifying the non-magnetics and non-metallics in an air stream where the air responsive components are separated from the heavier components, and recycling the heavier components back to the shredding step for subsequent classifying treatment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE APPARATUS It is preferred to feed the waste material to be classifled in an initial step to a reducing mill where all of the waste material is shredded and passed through gratings to a vibrator separator which feeds the shredded material to a magnetic separator which deposits the magnetic metallic components in a conveyor for transportation to a collection station. The non-magnetic and non-metallic material separated at this stage is collected on a suitable conveyor and transported to the air flotation chute where it is deposited in the chute air stream. The air flotation step places the proper sized material in an air conveying circuit connected with a cyclone separator for removing the waste material before the cleaned air is conducted back for further use in the flotation chute. The heavier waste material separated by gravity at the flotation chute is then recycled back to the mill for further shredding and reduction to extract whatever residual magnetic metallic compo nents may have been intermingled with the nonmagnetic components.

The preferred apparatus operates to initially shred and reduce the entire mix of magnetic and nonmagnetic metallic and non-metallic waste material, vibratorially and magnetically separating the shredded mix to separate out and collect the magnetic metallic components, treat the essentially non-magnetic and non-metallic components to an air flotation separating step for extracting the smaller components from the heavier conponents, to air convey the smaller components to a cleaning device where the components are removed from the air, and to return the cleaned air for further use in the flotation step, while collecting the removed waste components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF Tll-IE DRAWINGS The drawings show a presently preferred arrangement of apparatus by which the invention may be carried out, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the apparatus in a preferred layout for processing industrial oversized, bulky material and packer truck material in which a mixture of magnetic and non-magnetic metallic and non-metallic components are present;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal elevational view of the apparatus seen along lines 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a further elevational view of the apparatus as seen from a different view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view of the air flotation chute portion of the present apparatus, the view being taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a further fragmentary elevational view of the apparatus seen along line 55 in FIG. I; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary elevational view of the air cleaning apparatus associated with the air flotation chute system, the view being taken at line 6-6 in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED APPARATUS The present apparatus is seen in a general plan view in FIG. 1 where the reduction and shredding mill 10 is operated by a suitable drive motor 11. The material to be treated, such as industrial oversized waste and packer truck material, is dumped into the receiving end 12 of a suitable conveyor 13 which is upwardly inclined from the low end 12 to the mill ltll. A suitable pit 14 is provided for the conveyor end 12 and the upper end at the inill 10 is covered by a housing; 15 in which flexible curtains l6 greatly aid in confining the dust that is created when the material falls into the mill rotor. The mill 10 is constructed generally in accordance with the feature disclosed in my prior US. Pat. No. 3,667,694 issued June 6, 1972.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 the material shredded and reduced in the mill 10 is discharged through the mill grate onto a vibrating conveyor 17 having a horizontally vibratory surface 18 sloped toward the discharge end 19. The material is vibrated and the various components are caused to separate and spread out as the same moves down the slope thus discharged moves past a rotating magnetic separator drum 20 where magnetic material is extracted from the non-magnetic material and is carried over the drum 20 for discharge onto a suitable conveyor 21, the receiving end of which is provided with walls 22 to confine the magnetic metallic components. The remainder of the material falls into a chute 23 over the adjacent end of a suitable conveyor 24. In the view of FIG. 2 the conveyors 21 and 24 are located in a pit 25 at one side of a sub-grade trench 26 for the vibratory conveyor 17 under the mill 1!).

Turning now to FIG. 3, the conveyor 21 for the extracted magnetic metallic components extends along the pit 25 to a conveyor section 27 which is upwardly inclined to an elevated discharge end supported on a post 28 at a location where the discharge may be collected in a bin or in a vehicle. The rest of the shredded material passing the magnetic drum is collected by the conveyor 24 and carried up the incline to the side inlet of the air chute 29. The upper end of the conveyor is covered by a canopy 30. The air chute 29 is more particularly seen in FIG. 4 as having a vertically directed generally rectangular column 31 opening at the top into a conveyor tube 32. The bottom of column 31 is aligned over a material confining sleeve 33 associated with the lower end of a conveyor 34 which extends up wardly and is angled outwardly of a pit branch section 25a to a position over the pit 14 in which the principal conveyor receiving end 12 is disposed. The conveyor 34 returns certain components of the waste material, such as large pieces of metal, wood, and glass to the conveyor 13 for recycling to the mill 10. A supporting post 35 is provided under the conveyor 34 in the pit section 25a, and its discharge end is supported by a second post 36 (FIG.

The treatment of the waste material collected by conveyor 24 is carried out by the apparatus best seen in FIGS. 1 and 4. As noted the air chute 29 has its vertical column 31 formed with a side inlet at the upper end of the conveyor 24, below the inlet there is connected the air delivery conduit end 37 where a suitable stream of air is delivered by conduit 38 from the blower 39 driven by motor 40 through a drive belt 41. The blower suction conduit 42 is connected to the outlet cupola 43 of a cyclone separator device 44 (FIG. 6). The outlet conduit 32 of the air chute leads to the inlet 45 for the cyclone separator 44, thereby completing a closed circuit which includes the air chute 29, the blower 39 and the separator 44. The separator 44 (FIG. 6) has its waste material outlet 46 connected to the top of a silo chamber 47, with a rotary valve mounted in the outlet 46 so that the waste material separated from the air stream can be continuously dumped into the silo 47.

OPERATION OF THE APPARATUS The industrial bulk and packer truck waste material which has passed through the shredding mill is first classified at the discharge of the vibratory conveyor 17 (FIG. 2) into magnetic metallic components collected on conveyor 21 and generally non-magnetic and nonmetallic components collected on conveyor 24. Some of the waste material, ususally small bits and particles that fall out at the mill entrance are collected in a dribble chute 48 (FIG. 2) and conducted directly to the vibratory conveyor 17.

A principal aim of this apparatus is to handle the nonmetallic waste material in a novel manner so that this material can be conditioned for further handling where the combustible components can be used as a source of fuel for a source of heat, or for other purposes requiring a fuel source. Thus, the waste material collected on conveyor 24 is further processed in a size classification stage of the present apparatus.

The classification stage is carried out by delivering the generally non-magnetic and non-metallic waste material to an air chute device 29 where it is caused to fall by gravity into a controlled air stream. The chute 29 is vertically positioned shaft to which air is delivered by conduit 38 at a velocity of approximately 50011 feet per minute. The air movement in the column 31 picks up only those components of the waste material, such as paper and similar light-weight objects having a size which will result in its being floated out of the upper end of the column 31 where it is carried by conduit 32 to the inlet of the cyclone separator 44. Components of the waste material that are too heavy (large or weighted with metallics) and have not been shredded properly will fall out at the bottom of column 31 and be carried by conveyor 34 back to the principal feed conveyor 13 for mill 10 to be recycled in a further shredding step.

The air conveyed material in conduit 32 enters the cyclone separator 44 where it is spun out of the air flow and drops down for passage to the silo 47. The cleaned air is returned to the suction side of blower 39 for reuse in the air chute 29. By means of this improved apparatus for processing waste material, especially the nonmetallic components, the mill 10 may have its grate openings considerably opened up, since those components which are too large to be air conveyed through conduit 32 can be gravitationally separated out of the air conveying system and recycled to the shredder 10. This system greatly reduces the wear and tear on the rotor hammers, and that too contributes to increasing the efficiency of the apparatus. The recycled waste material goes through a second step of separation of magnetic and non-magnetic metallic components so that the waste collected in the silo 47 is substantially free of metallics that might create a problem when the silo material is used as a fuel or is consumed by burning. It has been pointed out before that the heavy material which falls out of the bottom of the column 31 is deposited on conveyor 34 and taken to the mill 10. The material most responsive to the air flow is the waste that can be burned, such as paper, cloth, wood chips and the like, and this class of material is easily separated. Therefore, the material most likely to get on the conveyor 34 is the heavy non-magnetic metallic waste which can easily be hand picked and put in a bin so that it will not be recycled more than once or twice. l-land picking nonmagnetic metallic material is a well-known practice in this field of waste material classifying and reclaiming. The separated magnetic metallic waste components constitutes a source of revenue, thereby improving the overall economics of the apparatus.

The foregoing description has set forth a presently preferred organization of apparatus for carrying out the several steps of the improved method for handling waste material and especially for processing the nonmagnetic and non-metallic components in a simple and economically practical way so that fuel values of the waste may be realized and valuable metallic components can be collected for sale. The scope of the present improvements is not to be unnecessarily limited, as variations may come to mind in view of the disclosure herein made.

I claim:

1. Waste material classifying apparatus which comprises a shredder to which the waste material is fed, means adjacent said shredder to receive and vibratorially initiate separation of the shredded waste material, magnetic separator means adjacent said vibratorial means to separate shredded magnetic waste from shredded non-magnetic waste, a generally vertical air chute open at the top and bottom and having a feed opening between said top and bottom openings, first conveyor meanextending from adjacent said magnetic separator means to a connection with said chute feed opening to deliver shredded non-magnetic waste into said chute, second conveyor means having a receiving end adjacent said chute bottom opening and a delivery end connected into the feed to said shredder, a forced air circulation system connected between said chute top opening and back to said chute between said bottom and feed openings, said circulation system including a cyclone separator to receive and collect waste material floated out of said chute top opening and a blower to extract clean air from said cyclone and deliver the air into said chute, said blower delivering the clean air at a velocity to force air borne waste material from said chute into said cyclone for separation in said cyclone and said second conveyor collecting the waste material falling out of said cute bottom opening and returning it to said shredder for further shredding, and means connected to said cyclone to receive waste material separated from the air moved in said circulation system by said blower.

2. The apparatus set forth in claim l wherein said blower developes an air velocity in said air chute of approximately 5,000 feet per minute to effect separation of waste material which has a size more responsive to floating in said air circulation than that dominated by gravity. 

1. Waste material classifying apparatus which comprises a shredder to which the waste material is fed, means adjacent said shredder to receive and vibratorially initiate separation of the shredded waste material, magnetic separator means adjacent said vibratorial means to separate shredded magnetic waste from shredded non-magnetic waste, a generally vertical air chute open at the top and bottom and having a feed opening between said top and bottom openings, first conveyor mean extending from adjacent said magnetic separator means to a connection with said chute feed opening to deliver shredded non-magnetic waste into said chute, second conveyor means having a receiving end adjacent said chute bottom opening and a delivery end connected into the feed to said shredder, a forced Air circulation system connected between said chute top opening and back to said chute between said bottom and feed openings, said circulation system including a cyclone separator to receive and collect waste material floated out of said chute top opening and a blower to extract clean air from said cyclone and deliver the air into said chute, said blower delivering the clean air at a velocity to force air borne waste material from said chute into said cyclone for separation in said cyclone and said second conveyor collecting the waste material falling out of said cute bottom opening and returning it to said shredder for further shredding, and means connected to said cyclone to receive waste material separated from the air moved in said circulation system by said blower.
 2. The apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein said blower developes an air velocity in said air chute of approximately 5, 000 feet per minute to effect separation of waste material which has a size more responsive to floating in said air circulation than that dominated by gravity. 